Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Local Brew News - End of October Edition

Lots to get to. Let's start off with a beer.

Bobby Jungwirth, Oblio's & Old Tankard Ale
Starting off with a sentimental favorite... You may have seen that Pabst has brought back Old Tankard Ale. It's a beer Pabst first introduced shortly after Prohibition. Old Tankard died its initial death in the 1970s. It was revived briefly in the 1990s before being scrapped once again. When I heard it was coming back again, I was immediately reminded of former Oshkosh mayor Bob Jungwirth.

Not only was Jungwirth our mayor, he worked most of his life driving a beer truck for Lee Beverage of Oshkosh. Back in the day, he was the man who totted Pabst and Old Tankard Ale around Oshkosh. In fact, he was known to many as Bobby Pabst. Here's a shot of Bob Jungwirth circa 1970 with his beer truck. Yes, those are cases of Old Tankard Ale stacked in the background.

The point of all this is that the new Old Tankard Ale is currently on tap at Oblio's as a kind of tribute to Jungwirth, who died in 2012. I never met Jungwirth, but I've heard some great stories about him from Mark Schultz and Todd Cummings of Oblio's. They credit Jungwirth with helping them to figure out how to run a bar.

Last year, Schultz described to me their first interaction Jungwirth: "The first day we met him, he walked behind the bar and said, ‘Sit down, shut the fuck up and I’ll tell you how to make money in this business.’ We learned so much from him. We were young and naive and he was a wealth of information."

If you get a chance, stop in at Oblio's and check it out. Old Tankard is a hearty American-style pale ale. It's being brewed at the Wisconsin Brewing Company in Verona based on a recipe from Pabst’s 1937 brewers' log (though they have changed up the hops). It's a good beer and an nice tribute to a man who was once central to the beer scene here.

O'Marro's Beer and Candy Pairing
Tomorrow night, they'll start gearing up for trick or treat at O'Marro's with a series of beer and candy pairings. It starts Wednesday, October 28 and will continue on through Halloween. Not sure what beers will be paired with which candies, but that's what trick or treat is all about, isn't it? Beer. Candy. O'Marro's. Good enough. Check out the Facebook event page here.

Beer Dinners at TJ's Harbor Restaurant
At TJ's they're really getting into this beer dinner thing. I haven't been able to make it to one of their's yet, but I've heard good things. They have two more coming up.

On November 5, TJ's will host a dinner featuring the beers Sierra Nevada brewing. The full menu, pairing and details are right here.

Then on November 12, TJ's will have a Beer vs. Wine Dinner. The info on that one is here.

O'so Tap Takeover at Dublin's
In celebration of O'so Brewing's 8th Anniversary, Dublin's will feature an O'so tap takeover on Friday, November 13. They'll have 8 O'so beers on tap and a special offer: for $30 you get an O'so snifter and all the O'so beer as you can manage to swallow from 6 pm to closing. Friday the 13th and all you can drink. Good luck!

A Couple More Beers While We're At It
Two more beers around town you might want to seek out.

If session beers are your bag, get over to Fox River Brewing. They have on a terrific English Mild named Quiet Brown now on tap. I'll let FRBC brewmaster Kevin Bowen describe it: "This is the quintessential 'session beer.' Pours a light brown color with a slightly tan colored foam. The aroma has toasted and roasted malt characters with hops taking a back seat and keeping quiet." Nice job, but he neglects to mention that it's delicious. At a mere 3.4% ABV you can drink it all day.

At the other end of the spectrum we have Duet, an American IPA now pouring at Gardina's. This is a big, 7% West Coast IPA from Alpine Beer Company (now part of the Green Flash family) of San Diego. It's a hop hammer featuring loads of simcoe and amarillo hops over a big, chewy bed of malt. This beer just screams San Diego IPA. If you're a hop head, this is an IPA not to be missed.

Local Brewery News
Quick update on how a couple of our planned breweries are faring in their campaigns to launch.

At Fifth Ward Brewing they're still working on the financing side of things. In the meantime, though, their plan of locating the brewery at 611 Oregon St. has been scrubbed. The building has been purchased by another party. Ian Wenger and Zach Clark of Fifth Ward will seek out a new space, once their financing phase is complete.

Over at the Highholder Brewing things are moving along as planned. Mike Schlosser and Shawn O'Marro of Highholder have submitted their paper work to the state, now it's time to wait. Once they have their approval, they should be able to begin brewing shortly after.

Meanwhile, there's Lion's Tale Brewing Co. in Neenah. Looks like they'll be up and running next month. When Lion's Tale opens, it'll be the first time Neenah has had a brewery in 100 years. Damn!